“Yours… will certainly makeotherslook,” I said.
Tala rolled her eyes. “Isn’t that the point of a beach day? To get all the guys to stare at you?” I got the distinct impression she was on the hunt for a boyfriend.
“I have trouble believing guys haven’t noticed you,” I said with a flick of my gaze down to her rather incredible chest. I didn’t recall her being that buxom during our water magic class.
She laughed. “Oh, this is just my beach body. There’s no way I’d want to carry these things aroundallthe time,” she said grabbing her breasts.
It took a moment for that to sink in. “Because… nymphs can change their form,” I said slowly.
She cocked her head, brow furrowed with an:of courselook. Then she sighed, shoulders slumping. “Sorry, I forgot you’re not used to any of this, are you?”
I shrugged. “I’m here to learn, teach me the ways of the nymph, oh great master.”
She laughed. Then she got a quizzical look. “So… this body…” she motioned to me, “you’ve never changed it? This is what you’ve always looked like?”
I nodded. “Although, recently I’ve noticed my eyes and ears and hair changing a bit. That’s it.”
But then — finding it hard not to look at Tala’s massive chest — a realization hit me and my jaw fell open as thingsclicked into place. Itwasn’tjust my hair and facial features that had changed. I recalled first meeting Rook and how my bra had suddenly felt too tight. I’d thought it just some arousal thing, but… Even before that I’d had trouble finding bras that fit well. They’d be perfect when I tried them on, but then they’d be far too tight sometimes while wearing them. In short, my ears hadn’t been the only thing growing it seemed.
That made me wonder, if arousal caused my bust to grow, then…
Closing my eyes, I thought back to Rook’s steamy kiss last night, or my even steamier time with Myel. I focused on my breasts and — with a deep breath — sort ofpusheda little.
“Oh! There you go!” Tala cheered.
I felt it before I opened my eyes and looked down. Thankfully my suit had some give to it, but I was nearly overflowing the confines of the stretchy cloth.
I breathed out and focused on reining myself in, then watched as I shrank back to “normal.” Though, I had to wonder what wasnormalfor a being who could alter their appearance at will.
“That’s the first time I’ve changed anything on purpose,” I breathed, feeling just a little proud, but also weirded out by the experience. I looked up at Tala. “How do you do it, change and still stay… yourself?”
Tala laughed and hooked her arm in mine, starting a walk down the beach. Many other students were down here enjoying the sun and surf on the weekend, luckily, no one I knew seemed to be around.
“Nymphs are taught from an early age that appearance means little. If you can look however you want, then whatreally matters is what’s on the inside. We’re taught about grace and kindness and joy. I’ve heard there’s a saying in the human realm that beauty is skin deep? We nymphs take that to heart.”
How very enlightened of them, but then, if you didn’t have to worry about what you looked like, you could probably afford to not care about it. An odd duality.
“But… doesn’t it send the wrong message?” I asked. “If you’re wearing yourbeach bodytoday and some guy likes it… won’t he be upset when yournormalform is different?”
She shrugged. “If he is, then he’s not the right guy.” Another very enlightened way of thinking about it. “Also, there’s nothing to say mybeach bodyisn’t also myin bed fooling aroundbody.”
I laughed. That made sense. Show a man what hecouldhave, even if it’s not all the time, because carrying around that much on your chest was bound to cause back problems.
“And do you just… think it into existence?” I asked. “Is it that easy?”
“NowI can,” she said with a laugh that spoke of experience and failure. “But there was a whole lot of mirror time, getting things right during my exploratory years.”
“Ah,” I said with a nod. So, if I really wanted to get things under control, I’d have to take some time to do just that, focusing on what I wanted to look like. Although… “Mine seems to shift according to how I’m feeling. Is there a way to stop that?”
She shrugged and it did things to her chest that had several guys around us drooling. “That’s also normal during puberty. Again, just takes time and control.”
So,a lotof practice. Got it.
We chatted for a while as we strolled down the beach. Ilearned a bit more about nymph life, and I did ask her about bindings, but as suspected, she didn’t know much more than: it’s something elves do, which constrains the body or mind or spirit in specific ways.
Then we switched to how to identify others, so I wouldn’t be too formal or informal with people. Tala pointed out examples of the different races around us which helped me get the hang of it.
It seemed the primary indicator of status was ear height.
